


Close Quarters

by Idris02



Category: Grey's Anatomy
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-02-14
Updated: 2014-10-30
Packaged: 2018-01-12 08:38:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 16,996
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1184178
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Idris02/pseuds/Idris02
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>If only things went a little differently between Alex and April in the on call room in episode 8 of season 7. Could they ever actually be a couple or is it a waste of time even trying?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**XX**

Where on earth was Alex? I needed to find him. I needed to tell him what an amazing job today, he probably saved that kids life and nobody even knew. That ass of an attending, I hated Stark, took all of the credit, pretended it was his idea all along. Opening up the door to the residents lounge I saw Meredith sitting alone, staring blankly at the cubby hole in front of her. I guessed she wanted to be left alone, that she probably wasn’t in the mood to answer the one question I needed answered right now, she was too deep in thought to assist me on my search for him. So I stepped backwards, lightly closed the door behind me and continued scouring the hospital looking for Alex.

Everyone in the hospital was on edge, well that’s not strictly true, not everyone but a lot of people. This morning when I was trying to find out why Alex was in Vegas Meredith shushed me because Dr Altman was talking about Cristina up on the stage in front of us. Her speech quickly morphed from a patient presentation to a ‘post-mortem on Dr Yang’ as she put it. Dr Shepherd seemed to be mad at her, ever since the shooting everyone has been quite worked up, understandably, but something is really wrong with Cristina. She quit the program. Out of all the residents she was the least likely to quit but after the shooting something inside her just snapped and now, well she quit. I think Dr Shepherd felt responsible in a way, but I wasn’t really concerned about Cristina, I needed to find Alex.

Jackson told me not to go there with Alex, he is my best friend so I should listen to him, but I don’t know. I like him but I’m me, I’m April, I’m a virgin. Lexie joined in and said I definitely didn’t want to go there, but why couldn’t I, I was responsible for myself, I could handle it, whatever happened. I quickly scanned the Peds ward for Alex, I thought that maybe he was checking on patients, he wasn’t. Maybe he went home, he did say it felt sick earlier today.  Maybe he went to rest in an on call room; there was no way I could know. Usually I would have given up, but I needed to find him, so I started searching in the on call rooms, after two failed attempts, I was ready to call it quits.

I walked up and down the hallways trying to think, thinking about where he was and thinking about why I wanted to find him, to see him so much. I knew that I wanted to tell him how amazing he was and how much of an ass Stark is, but did I want something more. What if subconsciously I wanted something more, why else would I think to look in the on call rooms, maybe I wanted something to happen between us. Jackson may have been wrong, maybe I do want to go there.

Oh, I don’t know. Placing one foot in front of the other I walked towards another on call room door, as I slowly approached it I promised myself that if he wasn’t in here then I would stop looking and go back to work. Part of me really wanted to find him behind this door but another part of me really didn’t want to, at all. My hand hovered over the door handle, what if someone was in here, not Alex, someone who forgot to lock it, as they were too busy doing, well what people are often doing in on call rooms. What if Alex was in behind this door and not alone…? I pondered all this for a moment, then shaking my head I pushed that thought to the very back on my mind put my hand down on the door handle and turned it slightly.

I opened the door and found Alex lying on the bed, “Are you ok?” I blurted out before thinking.  He groans squinting up at me; the light of the hallway blinding him, I obviously woke him.

“I’m sorry. I tried to find you.” I shut the door behind me, blocking the light out, step forward and continue, “He is awful! He tried to take all the credit.”

Using his arm Alex boosts himself up and puts his back up against the wall for support, “Is the kid ok. Is it going to work?” he sounds concerned.   
I take another step towards him, “Yeah! Of course it’s going to work, it’s brilliant. I’m going to talk to the Chief” I sit down on the bed before I continue, I try to stop but I can’t my mouth keeps opening and shutting and words pour out, I have no control over it, “because it is so unfair. You did every single thing right today. You covered that attendings ass and you got… you got crapped on every step of the way. The Chief should know that.”

He protested, “April”

But there was no stopping me now, I leaned forward and continued, “No, no. You’re so... what you did today was so great. You know, you don’t deserve this. I just…I wanted you to know that somebody knows that. That I know that”   
I sat there still, unaware of what he was thinking, I just kept talking, I should have stopped. I looked into his eyes, and searched from some shred of evidence, something that would give me a clue to what was running through his mind.

I pulled backwards a little, I could feel that I was about to blush, I made an idiot of myself again. Alex looked at my strangely for a second, then leant towards me pulling me to a kiss. It was long and passionate, like nothing I had ever experienced before. His lips left mine, and he looked into my eyes, this time he searched for something, he was trying to see what I was thinking. To answer him, I grabbed him, pulling him into a kiss. It was hot and heavy and I could feel his hands running down my body, to the bottom of my scrubs top, he began pulling it up and then stopped suddenly, withdrawing his lips from mine.

“What?” I asked, almost demanding an answer.

“You’re a virgin.”

My face turned red, my hands dropped to lap, clasping each other, trying to comfort myself, “Yeah, so?”

“I can’t.” he slid backwards, resuming his position, leaning against the wall.

I shuffled forward, placing my hand on his knee, “I want this.”

Pushing my hand away he replied, “Now, you don’t April. You will regret this later, I know you will.”

My face fell and I stared down at my lap. We sat in silence for about a minute before he ventured to break the silence, he leant forward, placing his hand under my chin and bringing my eyes level to his, “April, I’m sorry.”

Refusing to look into his eyes I stared down at my lap, silently. After a few seconds I broke the silence I had created, looked up at him and said, “Where were you this weekend?”

He dropped my hands, “I..”

“Don’t say Vegas.”

His expression changed, he looked curious, wondering how I knew, “Iowa.”  What, why would he be in Iowa? Noticing the confusion that spread across my face he answered my unspoken question, “That’s where I grew up. My family lives there now.”

He fidgeted, playing with hands, obviously wanting to say more, but he was unsure, nervous perhaps. I moved to get closer to him, not to kiss him again, but to prompt him to continue, I leant against the wall, sitting next to him, our bodies connected, only slightly.

“I went home. My brother, you haven’t met him but Mere and Cristina have Aaron, the doctor said…” his voice shook and I slid my hand down his arm, grasping his hand trying to comfort him, the best way I knew how. He continued, “He got diagnosed schizophrenic. Just like my mom.” He paused for a moment, took a deep breath and went on, “You know how they figured it out?”

I shook my head, we both knew it was a rhetorical question but I sounded out a quiet, “How?” before he answered.

“He tried to kill our little sister.” I grabbed his hand more tightly now, no wonder he acted like he did today, no wonder he, oh Alex. “She’s 16. She is just a kid. And her brother tried to kill her.”

I rested my head on his shoulder, my hand holding his a firming as I could, I wanted to protect him, I knew I couldn’t but I tried.  “And my mom didn’t do anything cause she’s off her meds and... anyway, I was in Iowa. That’s where I went. To my brothers commitment hearing, I had to commit him, Whatever.” Breathing out slowly he rested his head upon mine, and stroked the side of my hand with his thumb, showing me that he was appreciating the little I was doing to comfort him.

“It was good you went Alex, it’s good that you were there.” I almost whispered, afraid to ruin the moment we were having, whatever it was.

Sighing heavily he continued, it was his turn to ramble, “I wasn’t there. I wasn’t. I showed up, I held my sisters hand in the hospital for like ten minutes, I shoved some pills down my mom’s throat and I signed my brother into a nuthouse. Then I got the hell out of there as fast as I could. I wasn’t there. I’m the ass who can’t stand to be there.”

I whispered, “Oh Alex.”

This explained so much about him. It explained why he was the way he was. He was harsh and sometimes a bit of a douche, but he had a tough and he still came out the other side. He told me something about himself, which would not have been easy for him to do, something told me that I was the only person he told this too, I felt like that gave us something, some form of bond, he trusted me. Without thinking, I turned and pulled him towards me, into a hug. His chin rested on my shoulder, I could feel his arms all around me, holding on tight, almost afraid to let go.

I spoke in hushed tones, almost whispering it his ear, “You’re not an ass. You were there, even if you don’t think you were. What you do matters.” 

Releasing his grip, he began to pull away slowly, so I let go and leant against the wall. “Thanks April. I know you don’t like me. But this really helped.”

Moving across the bed, he stood up and walked towards the door.

“Alex.” Jumping up I took two steps towards him towards him, I had to tell him, I couldn’t not. I knew that I couldn’t tell him what I thought using words, knowing me I would stutter and I would ruin everything. Actions had to do. Usually I wasn’t keen on action over words, but in this moment, I no longer cared. I grabbed his hand and pulled him towards to me, he looked surprised, I placed my hands on either side of his face and stared deeply into his eyes, again. I then pulled him towards me, into a deep kiss. It was less passionate this time, less urgent but more demanding I guess.

After about a minute, I pulled away walked towards the door, and turned back to face him. “You know where to find me.” Shutting the door behind me I headed down the hallway off to the ER to go get a case. As I walked towards the elevator, I reviewed everything that happened with Alex. I didn’t know what I wanted to happen in that on call room, but I pleasantly surprised with everything that did.

It could have been a spectacular failure, I don’t know what made him stop when he was kissing me, but I am glad that I didn’t make a decision that I am sure I would live to regret. He knew me, even when I didn’t know me. He is not the man I first thought him to be. I guess people truly do surprise you even when your intention is to surprise them. A smile spread across my face as the elevator doors opened, this could be the start of something, this was a good day after all.

**XX**


	2. The Night Shift

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After the scene in the on call room will anything truly change between the two of them?

**XX**

Sitting in Meredith’s car squished between Jackson and Alex at 6 o’clock at night heading to the nightshift all I could think about was the conversation that Jackson and I had had the night before at Cristina’s house warming party…

 

When I arrived, I mentioned nothing about what happened between Alex and I in the on call room a few hours prior to Jackson, as it occurred to me that it was none of his business. Sure he was my best friend but I wanted to find out about the whole Alex thing by myself. I didn’t want it to become a new topic I would be lectured on. Even though I went without mentioning Alex once in the conversation, after a few beers Jackson brought it up himself.

First he rested his hand on my shoulder, shook me just a bit, looked me dead in the eyes and said, “Do you still like Alex?”

I gave no reply but I shook his hand off me and took a sip of my drink. It was then that he proceeded to give me advice on the matter, repeatedly saying that Alex was not the guy for me in any respect. I then responded by asking him about Lexie, trying to ascertain whether or not he still had a thing for her. He said nothing and went silent for a moment, then took a swig of his beer and ceased his lecturing.

Although he added one final comment in which he told me what a great guy Alex was but how he was in no way boyfriend material for me.  He also said, “Don’t get me wrong I like him, he’s just not for you.” After that he went on about how I needed to date someone who wasn’t an unstable, cranky man-whore, but someone who was more like me. Which I thought was an unfair evaluation of only some of Alex’s traits.

I replied to that comment with, “By that you mean someone who is also a virgin?”

Ignoring my tone he nodded, showing he agreed with me. Before taking another sip of his drink he responded, “Exactly. I can’t think of any guy I know that you know that would fit this criteria.”…

 

Meredith quickly swerved the car, which brought me back from my memories, back into reality. I opened my mouth to ask her about the cause for her reckless driving just as she tooted at the car in front of us. She then went on to yell profanity at him, while waving her arms around in the air in front of the steering wheel. Jackson, Alex and I all burst into fits of laughter over the whole event.

Jackson added, “Maybe I should drive us home then.” This caused us all to erupt in a new wave of laughter, with Meredith joining in this time. The sound of Alex chuckling almost straight into my ear brought my full attention to the fact that our arms were touching.

With Alex’s arm right against mine all I could think about for a few minutes were the events of the on call room last night and how he hadn’t shown up at the party. At first I thought that perhaps he was avoiding me after everything that happened but then I remembered what he said about Iowa, which meant he would have been wanting to sleep and hopefully shower as the smell of car troubles still lingered on him the night before. Taking a deep breath, I discovered that he no longer smelt of gasoline and exhaust.

Turning my head towards Jackson I could almost see him watching me. He looked tired and half-asleep, which was weird as we had slept all day but he was trying to assess my feelings about Alex. Not wanting to bother with thoughts about Alex, I bent my neck and rested my head on Jackson’s shoulder. At first, Jackson’s body tensed slightly but it soon relaxed and I felt his head turn to stare out the window.

We were on our way to our nightshift and as Meredith turned into the hospital, we tried to wipe the yawns off our faces and cover them with smiles. Tonight, we owned the hospital. Attendings were out for the night. We were in charge. If there was a trauma, we had it. Any emergencies were ours. It was scary sure. But this was our moment. None of us wanted to screw this up. Lifting my head off Jackson’s shoulder, I grabbed my bag and filed out of the car behind him. As the entrance opened in front of us I pushed all thoughts of Alex out of my head. I couldn’t make a mistake tonight, not a single error, so Alex Karev could no longer control my mind.

 

Many hours later we were finally heading home from the nightshift at the hospital. It was not at all what any of us expected. Meredith and Alex commandeered an entire OR without Dr Stark, but to be fair he never answered his pager, so they were in the right. They couldn’t just let that poor kid die, although they did perform a surgery without an attending present. Jackson had a hard night as he had two brothers, one died and the other barely survived, which explained his silence in the car ride home. The night shift was definitely a challenge, I think the attendings expected us to run rampant around the hospital but we didn’t, well at least I didn’t. I had successfully pushed Alex out of my mind for most of my shift. Although two love sick teenagers glued together almost sent me down that train of thought. It certainly helped that I didn’t talk to him all night. I walked past him a few times, I was rushing somewhere or he was. Not exactly the best time to start an in depth conversation.

Despite Jackson’s joke about driving us all home we were all sitting in the same place we had been hours ago. This time Alex and I no longer touched arms as he had his head resting on the door. He was almost asleep where he sat. He looked so tired. Resting on his lap was a pizza box. Without a word, I lifted up the lid and grabbed a slice. He opened his eyes for a second, a quick smile spread across his face and then his eyes shut again.  “Thanks.” I muttered as I stuffed it into my mouth.

 

Once we reached home, we got a few beers out of the fridge and went to sit in the lounge. I sat in by the edge of the couch, in the armchair holding my drink, not speaking, deep in thought. Beside me, Jackson and Meredith sat merrily chatting to each other about the night’s catastrophes and what an ass Stark is, to which I nodded in agreement. I slowly tuned them out until I heard my name, which forced me to resurface.

“What?” Meredith exclaimed, her mouth wide open, obviously shocked.

“Huh?” I replied, unaware of what her reaction was caused by.

“She likes him.” Jackson teased. I scanned the room and found that Alex wasn’t here. I relaxed for a second before I realised that I may not be able to see him but that doesn’t necessarily mean that he couldn’t hear us.

“Shut up.” I muttered.

“April!” Meredith said in a state of shock, “You didn’t even try to dispute it.”

“I don’t!” I answered weakly, not convincing anyone, especially not myself.

“Way too late for that measly effort” Jackson added, a wide grin spreading across his face. He looked very pleased with himself.

“April, you don’t want to go there.” Meredith said, looking straight at me. She finished her drink and placed it on the table in front of her.

“I don’t see how…” I began before Jackson cut me off.

“I told her that already.” Jackson replied, his smile growing.

“You need someone, softer.” Meredith remarked. Tilting her head she gazed out the window deep in thought, as if she was trying to think of other guys that would be more suitable for me.

Breaking her train of thought I blurted out, “Guess who has the hots for your sister?”

Raising her eyebrow she turned her attention to Jackson, all thoughts of Alex and I vanishing into thin air. “Jackson!” she exclaimed.

“April!” He yelled at me, with a surprised expression on his face, although almost proud. He wouldn’t have expected me to bring that up, but fair was fair.

Meredith smacked him lightly on the knee and yelled, “Seriously?”

Downing my drink I mumbled, “Want another?” Before grabbing Meredith’s empty bottle off the table and almost running to the kitchen. Behind me, Jackson began muttering something to Meredith no doubt about Lexie but I was no longer in hearing range.

Grabbing two beers from the fridge, I headed towards the door, hoping to find Alex on the front porch sitting on Meredith’s old swing. Holding both bottles in my left hand, I used my right to the open the door and stuck my head out.

“Hey.” I said nonchalantly. Turning his head towards me, the dull expression on his face vanished and a small smirk covered it. Looking down I noticed an empty bottle sitting by his feet so I as sat myself down next to him, I handed him a beer.

“Thanks.” He muttered as he popped off the lid and took a sip.

“Could you?” I asked as I passed him my bottle. Popping off the lid in one swift movement, he handed it back. I chugged nearly half the bottle in one go. I decided I could use a bit of liquid courage.

“Rough day?” Alex inquired as I finally let the bottle leave my lips and let it rest on the wood beneath my feet.

“Yeah I guess.” I replied, staring out onto the street. We sat in silence for a moment before I spoke again, “How come you didn’t make it to Cristina’s party last night?”

Shifting his eyes in my direction, he looked at me, scanned my face and then took a long sip of beer before he answered, “Wasn’t in the mood I guess.”

“Well you didn’t…” I began before I noticed him flinch slightly as he moved his hand. Without thinking, I leant forward and grabbed his hand. Using my fingers, I unclenched his fist and examined the cut down the middle of his palm.

“How did this...” I started before I moved my eyes to his face and saw his expression change. “Are you okay?”

Pulling his hand out of mine, he jolted upwards. Downing his drink in one go, he stepped forward and leant against the fencing around the deck, turning back to face me he muttered, “Stop.”

“I just...” I started.

“You’re not my girlfriend, you don’t need to take care of…” He yelled.

“No I’m not. So shut up.” I yelled over him as I jumped up, it was easier to yell at him when he wasn’t towering over me.

“But I…” he stammered, shocked by my sudden outburst.

“You think I can’t take care of myself?” I yelled.

“Well, no but…” he stuttered.

“That I’m incapable of processing adult emotions. That I’m much like a child that needs to be guided, to be protected.” I spoke, slowly and clearly. This was a first for me, properly, freely speaking my mind.

“April, I…” he began.

“I am not just a virgin. I am a doctor. I am a woman. I am a…” I continued ranting.

“Ok I get it!” He exclaimed.

Taking a step towards him, I continued in a softer tone, “So let me help you.”

Only inches from his face I bent my head and picked up his hand with both of mine. “Now what the hell did you do?” I asked as I ran my finger along the scar.

He gave no verbal reply, only winced slightly.

“It’s not deep, which means it doesn’t need stitches but you should bandage it up anyway.” I remarked looking up at him again. “I’ll go grab one.”

Heading towards the door, I took a step forward before her grabbed my hand and whirled me around to face him.

“What?” I mumbled as I tried to read the expression across his face.

Giving no reply, he placed one hand onto my lower back and with the other he brushed the hair off my face. I watched him lean towards me and then I shut my eyes and leant towards him.

I could feel his breath on my face and I could feel him hesitate for a moment. “April?” he whispered.

Losing all patience, I snaked my arms around his neck and pulled him into me, kissing him passionately on the lips. I had been waiting for this for hours. It was everything I imagined it to be. For a moment, he paused but then he reciprocated, kissing me back and pulling him tightly towards him.

**XX**


	3. Date Night

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Alex is a little out of his comfort zone is this chapter, let me know what you think :)

**XX**

Alex sat fiddling nervously with the menu in front of him. He knew this was a bad idea, he thought to himself, ‘Why on earth did you suggest this you fool.’ Everything about him felt fake, nothing felt like him. He was sitting in a restaurant, a restaurant; he hadn’t been in one of these places for years. He had never been in a place this upmarket before. Not wanting to look out of place but also not wanting to look like a chump, he had carefully considered everything about his appearance tonight.

He was so nervous that he asked Yang for pointers not only on what to wear, also how to act. Usually he would go to Jackson, but he couldn’t tell him about this. He would consider Mere his second choice but she would just lecture him. Cristina was the only one who would be honest but at the same time, she wouldn’t be judgemental, and she had a similar mind-set to him. Plus she wouldn’t tell anyway, she was one of the few people at that hospital that knew a secret was a secret.

Cristina had decided that he should wear black dress pants and an olive green dress shirt. Both of which he had to go out and buy, because as she had said, “You’re going to a restaurant not a country diner or some gross dingy pub. You need proper clothes.” He hated shopping, and he hated it even more with Cristina nagging him and also whining about how intolerable and tedious she found the whole shopping experience. Just before he had left the hospital to make his way to the restaurant she had come to the residents lounge and given him some last minute pointers on how to behave.

“I have eaten before you know.” He had said. To which she snorted in reply and continued telling him the proper behaviour at an upscale restaurant. Begrudgingly he had listened and staring down at the cutlery in front of him now, he was glad he had. He didn’t understand why you had to use your forks in a certain order, but that didn’t matter as now he knew how.

Picking his phone up off the table he checked the time, 8.28 pm. He was meeting her at 8.30 but for some reason he wanted to get here early because otherwise he would be late but now he was sitting alone, like he had been for the last 8 minutes, looking like a complete ass. Remembering what Cristina had told him he laid his phone onto the right corner of the table, screen facing down. He then draped his napkin over his lap, just as Cristina had told him to do.

His eyes watched the door, waiting for her. Again his shaking hands held the menu, he started flipping through the pages, his eyes glued to the doors not noticing the food noted within. He thought to himself, ‘Why didn’t you just offer to pick her up, or to meet at the hospital. What if she doesn’t show?’ This is why he didn’t do dates at fancy restaurants, because they made him feel like an outcast, the posh people sitting around him were ordering $200 bottles of wine and then leaving with half empty glasses still on the table. They were all dressed formally, their hair done exactly right, their wrists and necks holding prestigious, expensive jewellery, that would cost him over three months’ rent.

He always felt inadequate around these sorts of people, so why did he want to come here in the first place. The reason was simple, April. He had never taken any girl to a restaurant, not even Izzie. But April was different, not because he felt differently about her, not yet anyway. It was because April was April. This relationship couldn’t start like every other relationship that he had, because they had all failed. He wanted to take this slowly; he wanted to get to know April not Dr Kepner.

Waiting in the restaurant alone when the clock struck 8:30 was nothing compared to actually having to ask her on a date, to this restaurant for 8.30. He was nervous now but two days ago on the front porch; he was practically terrified of being rejected.

_They had been kissing for a few minutes before he pulled away, hands shaking, an idea forming in his head._

_“April.” He stammered, unsure of how to ask her._

_“Seriously…” she started, getting the wrong idea, oblivious to his shaking hands and his odd tone just focussing on the fact that he pulled away, that he broke their kiss._

_“April, shut up.” He said. He may have been nervous but he was still Alex and he needed to say this before he lost his nerve and he did not have time for her to spin out._

_“Alex?” she asked him this time her voice shaking. She slid her hands into her pockets, now almost as nervous as he was._

_“Do you, ahh do you, we ah, well uhmm?” he mumbled, his eyes on the floor. He inhaled deeply and then looked straight into her eyes and said, “Would you like to go a date with me?”_

_The nervous expression on April’s face changed to a smile as she replied joyfully, “Yes, of course! Tomorrow night?”_

_“No the night after, I can’t do tomorrow.” He answered. He smiled back at her, this hadn’t gone nearly as badly as he had imagined, he thought it would end badly, but it went surprisingly well._

_“Sounds like a date. Keep me posted on details ok?” she said as she kissed him quickly on the lips._

_“I will.” Alex replied, pulling her in and kissing her again, his hands holding on tightly to her hips._

_Breaking it after a few seconds April looked into his eyes and said, “I have to go back inside now.”_

_“Okay.” He murmured kissing her again._

_Pushing him back she repeated, “I have to go.” She spoke much more weakly this time, but with her last ounce of will power she took a step back smiled and then walked into the house._

_Alex smiled as he watched her saunter off down the hallway._

_“Well, well, well.” A voice said._

_Alex turned to face the voice and squinted into the dark, whoever it was was invisible in this time of night, but they had to be close. A few seconds later he watched as out of the shadows stepped Cristina a wicked grin on her face._

_“How much did you hear?” He asked her, the smile on his face fading._

_Climbing up the steps she replied, “Oh I heard enough. What restaurant are you taking her to then? McDonalds?” she laughed as his expression went from shocked to worried._

_“Oh shit.” Alex exclaimed, “I don’t know any restaurants. What the hell was I thinking.”_

_“Not to worry, Yoda will teach you.” Cristina replied, placing her arm around his shoulder. She pointed out into the darkened front yard, “You will soon see the light.”_

That was how Alex came to be sitting in this restaurant wearing a beautiful olive dress shirt, dark pants and dress shoes at 8.31 pm waiting for April, hoping that she would come, worried that she would cancel on him via text due to some work commitment which could either be real or complete bullshit.

His eyes were on the door as it opened and in walked another random. Sighing he looked down at his menu. Over the top of his menu, he could see the door opening and shutting but now his sole attention rested on the menu. He began to accept the fact that he was going to be stood up and that this was all for nothing. He had to listen to Cristina for hours on end, moaning, mocking and mentoring. But at least this food looked pretty good, maybe this wouldn’t be all bad.

“Hello.” April said warmly. Placing his menu quickly on the table he smiled as he saw her scanning his outfit and nodding slightly in approval. She wore a scarlet strapless dress that was tight at the top but flowing and slightly layered from the waist down.

“You look beautiful.” Alex blurted out. She smiled, draped her coat over the back of the chair and sat down.

“You look good too.” She replied as she picked up the menu. Alex noticed then that the lipstick she was wearing was the same shade as her dress. For someone who had little experience in that area she was rather good at it, it was obvious she was a virgin on account of her own beliefs not that she couldn’t get any.

Moving his eyes back to his menu he looked over the first page in slight disbelief. “If I were you I would ignore the entire first page, it’s full of, overpriced salads.” Alex remarked, lowering his voice to a whisper at the end part. As soon as he said that it then occurred to him that perhaps April would like an overpriced salad so once again he was full with nervous energy.

However April smiled and said, “Wow you aren’t kidding” as she scanned the page. Flickering over she continued, “I think I will just stick with the steak.”

“That was quick.” Alex remarked he was impressed with how fast she made a decision. Usually whenever he did anything, his date would take forever to make a decision, then get some measly meal and eat most of his, but that was a thing of the past, he was an upmarket man now. Plus that usually took place at the bar before they headed back to his house after knowing each other for about an hour, that wasn’t the case tonight.

“Well they do a good steak here.” April replied, closing her menu, placing it in front of her and draping her napkin over her lap.

Still mulling over his decision Alex didn’t even look up when he asked, “You’ve been here before?”

He didn’t see her smile nervously, nor did he see her play with her hands before she answered, “No, but I read a few reviews on the place. Most people talked about how great the steak was.”

Looking up from his menu he said, “You stalked this restaurant.”

Blushing slightly she stammered, “I didn’t want to seem out of place.”

“Really?” he asked her, completely surprised. He understood him not fitting in, but April. April was beautiful and classy.

“I grew up on a farm Alex. I haven’t been on a date since med school and the last time I went to a restaurant was, I don’t even know when.” She replied, her eyes on her lap, obviously embarrassed by this revelation. Bringing her gaze up from her lap she saw Alex with a massive grin on his face. “Are you laughing at me?” she half whispered, careful to keep her volume down.

“No. Well yes. I grew up in foster homes as a teenager and as a child my parents weren’t exactly fine dining people. Then I was piss poor while in med school, so upscale restaurants aren’t exactly a place I often find myself in. But you seem to fit right in here.” Alex replied, chuckling a little as he said.

A smile spread across April’s face, she could tell that he was nervous too. “I’m hoping that was a compliment. Should we order?” she asked as her stomach rumbled quietly.

“It was. Sure, I’m ravenous but how do we call her over?” Alex replied, indicating towards the waitress.

Raising her arm April waved her hand ever so slightly and the waitress started rushing over.

“If you grew up in a barn how do you know how to do that?” he asked her as the waitress was walking towards.

“Farm, not barn. I already knew but Cristina taught me, quite condescendingly may I add.” She replied as she quickly scanned the drinks menu.

‘Of course she did’ he thought to himself. Taking a quick breath, he recalled what Cristina had said to him and placed his hands on top of his menu, ready.

“Good Evening, I am Annabelle and I will be your waitress for tonight. Are you ready to order?” the perky waitress blurted out, obviously in a rush. Her hair in a messy bun and a pen in one hand, pad in the other, and was subconsciously hitting the pen against the pad as she looked at them expectantly.

Taking control Alex said, “Number 37, mild please. April?”

“46, medium rare.” She instructed Annabelle.

“37 and 46. Yes good. What drinks would you like?” Annabelle asked.

“Scotch on the rocks,” Alex began, he paused and looked over at April, she nodded back at him and he continued, “make that two and a bottle of red wine. 14 should do nicely.”

“Is that all for now?” Annabelle asked, impatiently waiting to serve her other customers who were waving her over.

“That will be all.” Alex replied curtly.

Annabelle nodded and then ran off to another table that demanded her attention, taking the menus with her as she left.

Reaching across the table April took Alex’s hand in hers and commented, “For someone who doesn’t eat in restaurants, you did a good job of ordering.”

“Much like you I got lessons.” He replied, smiling as he stroked her hand with his thumb.

“From?” she asked.

Smirking he answered, “Cristina.”

“Oh, of course. Did you know she took me shopping to go buy this dress, she volunteered and then complained for hours while I tried stuff on, that she forced me to try on I might add.” April said, she was moaning about Cristina but still had a smile on her face. It was evident she was grateful for her help.

“For me too! She was highly critical of almost everything I tried on, which she picked for me and then forced me to buy her lunch, for her troubles.” Alex beamed.

“She told me that my shoes were a colossal mistake. Not ones I tried on, but the ones that I owned. She said that she wondered what on God’s earth would possess me to buy such ugly things.” April added.

“Sounds like Cristina.” Alex remarked.

“It was nice to know that she cared enough to help us both.” April pondered aloud.

“Either that or just enjoys our humiliation.” Alex replied.

“Yea that makes more sense. Although she did give pretty sound advice, plus she picked this entire outfit for me, shoes, jewellery, dress and make up. She sure knows what she’s doing, especially for someone who shows no interest in the stuff.” April commented.

They sat silent for a second as Annabelle came back carrying a tray with their drinks. She placed their scotches in front of them, then the two empty wine glasses. Filling the glasses, she left the bottle in the middle of the table and hurried off again. They both took a sip of their drink and then opened their mouths to speak at the same time.

**XX**


	4. Late Night

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Continued on immediately from Date Night.

**XX**

“You go first.” April demanded.

“I was just going to say we probably shouldn’t talk about the hospital, this is one of the times we have free from there.” He replied, unsure of her views on this matter. He wanted to get to know her separate from work, to see if he really liked her or if it was, just, something else instead.

“Agreed. I was going to say you wouldn’t believe the first date conversation topics I came across on the internet.” April chimed. She began laughing quietly to herself as the memory of these topics resurfaced. Alex smiled, she looked even more beautiful sitting there quietly laughing to herself, happy and joyful. He loved seeing her this way.

In that moment, as April tried to speak between laughter Alex knew that this date was worthwhile. That the nerves and anticipation were worth it, that this would be different. That he actually liked April not just Dr Kepner, but both of them, one and the same. He never really got to know someone, before, well other things got in the way. He had never had a relationship that went through normal dating first, the dinner dates, the nerves, the feeling of getting to know each other, finding out each other’s eccentricities before seeing each other naked.

“What?” April questioned, a slight worry line appearing on her face as she wiped her mouth, unsure of what Alex was staring at so intently.

“Nothing.” Alex mumbled. He softly squeezed her hand and continued, “I can’t believe you searched up conversation topics. That is so sad.”

Faking a look of hurt she replied, “Ouch. Okay then, why don’t you start the conversation then, I’m sure it will be illuminating. Super interesting.” She pulled her hand back, crossed her arms and leant back onto the chair with a smug look on her face.

“Uhm well I can’t ask you about your job, I already know what you do.” He started, playing with his hands again.

“Uh huh.” April replied, the smile on her face spreading, she was pleased watching him squirm.

“What’s your favourite colour?” Alex said his voice shaking.

“My favourite colour? Are you joking?” April said with a snort, “Does that actually work?”

“Well if they are drunk enough it does. But anyway, shut up. You can’t do any better!” Alex shot back with a smile on his lips, no point trying to conceal it.

“Oh I found the best one, What went wrong between you and your ex?” April replied between laughs.

“Seriously?” Alex answered, laughing he pushed all potential answers out of his head and continued, “Talking about how past relationships failed is one way to ensure the date doesn’t end in sex.”

“It’s not as bad as, do you have any stds?” April laughed and took another sip of her drink.

“Any answer that doesn’t involve the word no, should signal the immediate end of the date.” Alex replied. He was having fun, he thought he would, but when he was sitting alone in the restaurant waiting for her to come all he could think about was everything Cristina told him to do and not to do. Which meant that he had barely thought about what they would talk about, but it that didn’t seem to be too much of an issue, but that was now, that might change later.

“Then maybe I should head home.” April teased. She smirked as the waitress came over and placed their food in front of them, Alex sitting silent, dumbfounded. Slightly confused as to what she was implying exactly.

“Anything else?” the waitress asked politely, moving her head side to side, spotting another table that needed her attention.

Regaining his voice Alex replied, “No we’re good.” And she walked off. Turning to April he asked, “What?”

Enjoying his confusing she took a deep breath and a pause before answering. “I heard about what happened a few years back. The hospital outbreak, some guy named George getting it from you, through a nurse or someone.” Cutlery in hand she began eating her dinner, glancing up every few seconds to see Alex’s face as he was trying to formulate some kind of answer. From the looks of it, things weren’t going to well.

“Why don’t you eat while you construct your no doubt witty reply.” April said stuffing some salad into her mouth and then lightly placing her cutlery on her plate and taking a sip of her wine.

“April, uh well… about that, uh…” Alex mumbled and then regaining his composure said, “I’m clean if that’s what you were wondering” with a smirk, raising his eyebrow slightly.

Choking on her wine, April placed her glass on the table and quickly covered her mouth. Grabbing her napkin from her lap, she wiped her face and then looked down to survey the damage. _Good save_ she thought to herself once she realised that not a drop of wine ended up on her dress, her food or the table. Dropping her napkin back onto her lap she moved her gaze up to her Alex and said, “Would you care to confirm that with a blood test?”

Now it was his turn to be surprised, “Seriously?” he spluttered.

“How sure are you? Pretty sure or certain?” April replied, her expression not giving any clues, she remained blank to all emotions, not a smirk wandering from her lips to her eyes, nothing.

“Certain.” Alex answered with not a moment’s hesitation. Staring into her eyes, not moving, he continued eating. He did not want to break the eye contact.

“This tastes great.” April said, wanting to change the subject. It was either that or to giggle nervously. She felt completely reassured by Alex, there was no doubt that he was honest, and if the evening progressed that way, she knew he was clean.

Alex chuckled, she was a surgeon but certain topics, areas of conversation made her so nervous. She was actually kind of badass when it came to work, but then when she put down that scalpel her whole personality changes. Innocent wouldn’t be the word to describe her, neither would naïve. It wasn’t that she was oblivious of certain things, she just didn’t feel comfortable. For some reason that made him like her even more.

“So does this!” Alex responded, taking a fork full of food and then extending his hand out to April. “Try some.” He wasn’t ordering her, but after a few seconds he immediately regretted the gesture followed by the words. He hoped she wouldn’t get the wrong idea and think he was demanding her to do something she potentially didn’t want to do.

He began to withdraw his hand a little when she replied, “Looks delicious.” Putting her cutlery on the edge of her plate, she placed her palms on the table and leant towards Alex. She was cautious not to get anything on her dress, or to spill her wine over, she didn’t want to make a fool of herself. Looking into his eyes, she opened her mouth and wrapped it around his fork. Pulling back, she sat back down in her chair and repositioned the napkin on her lap as he sat still with his hand still hovering in the air.

Licking her lips, she picked up her cutlery and said, “Tastes it too.”

“What?” Alex muttered, realising his hand was still extended he brought it back down to his plate, “Oh yeah, told you.” _Shut up Alex,_ he told himself, _This is just a nice dinner, getting to know one each other, without the sex. She’s April._ The other half of his brain was not agreeing with him, although for now he chose to ignore it.

 

“That was delicious.” April said after devouring the last remnants of mud cake on her plate. She wasn’t certain she would eat dessert when she was getting ready as Cristina said that she should only stay for dessert if she wished to extend the date, if it’s going badly decline dessert and get the hell out of there. Luckily that wasn’t the case.

Alex smiled back at her, a mouthful of sticky date pudding preventing him from answering. She looked so beautiful, she was surprisingly funny and there was just something about her that made him incredibly happy, she was one of those people you just generally liked being around. She wasn’t as annoying as she seemed at work. He was so glad that they had done this, the initial awkwardness of the date was long gone.

“So what is your favourite colour?” April asked, placing her cutlery down on her plate and reaching for her glass of wine. She finished it off while she waited for Alex to finish eating a reply.

“Delicious.” He said resting his cutlery on his plate, then looking towards April he said, “Uhm don’t really have one.” He chuckled silently to himself, remembering that part of the evening, when he was still so nervous, and not so relaxed. But shortly after that April took control of the conversation for a bit although it was always a conversation, neither of them talked at each other, which was always a risk with a date. He loved how she didn’t talk about herself endlessly for the last hour, she asked him questions and answered his question and acted like she genuinely liked listening to all he had to say. _Why didn’t we do this sooner?_ He thought to himself.

“How can you not have a favourite colour!” April sounded surprised.

Alex smiled slightly as he stared at April for a moment and then answered, “Red. Maybe green.”

April felt herself blush slightly as she realised that he was only saying that based on the dress she was wearing and then after a moment she also realised that he was saying green as in the colour of her eyes.

Before she could formulate some sort of answer a new waitress arrived, “Can I get you anything else?” She spoke fast as if she could not get the words out fast enough, her hair was pulled back into a tight ponytail, too tight, making her face look kind of pinched. April exchanged a look with Alex, they both noticed her strange attire and the heavy eyeliner but they also communicated, no, through their look.

“No thank you. Cheque please.” Alex answered, grabbing his napkin from his lap and placing it on his empty plate. April watched him and did the same.

“Yes sir, one moment.” She said, frantically rushing off in the other direction, almost knocking into another waitress who was carrying a tray of drinks.

“Tia watch it!” She hissed at her, steadying herself, so that the drinks wouldn’t end up on the floor. She gave her a death glare and glided over to a table, while Tia rushed off in the other direction.

“Cat fight.” Alex whispered. Both he and April watched this entire exchange. “I’ll just go pay, it’s probably easier I go to them, than to risk Tia coming back here.” He said, standing up.

“Are you sure?” April asked, also rising from her seat, grabbing her jacket off the back of her chair.

“Didn’t you see her almost knock over that chicks entire tray of drinks?” he said, misunderstanding what she was saying.

“Not that, don’t you want to split it?” She asked stepping towards him and placing her hand lightly on his arm.

“Maybe next time. This ones on me. Meet you out front?” he leant down, gave her a quick kiss on her cheek and headed off in the direction that Tia had gone, a lot more slowly and cautiously than she had done of course.

“Next time.” April repeated to herself as she made her way to the door. _There was going to be a next time._ She thought to herself _Of course there will be a next time._

She shuddered as she stepped outside, there was no rain, but a cold breeze swept down the street. Wandering towards a bench, she sat herself down and crossed her legs and pulled her coat tightly around her. _This went well. Rather well. Better than well. It went…_ She thought to herself _Perfectly._

A small seed of doubt settled in her mind, what if he didn’t find it that way. She then remembered the way he had looked at her all night, his expression between wanting to rip off her scarlet dress in the restaurant bathroom and a kind fondness in his eyes.

Smiling she looked up at the night sky. That was the one thing she hated about the city, with all the bright lights down below you could never really see the stars, and even if you could, it was only one or two. Nothing compared to the beauty of the country. Lowering her gaze she saw one of the things she loved about the city, Alex. Standing up she linked her arm with his and leant her head against his shoulder as they headed down the street.

**XX**


	5. Sleep In

**XX**

Alex’s pager went off just as they had successfully pulled up a cab to take them home. Looking down at it, they both saw it was a 911, so he took the cab, leaving April standing outside the restaurant, replaying his rambling apologies as he kissed her goodnight on the cheek and jumped into the cab. She waved to him as his disappeared around the corner, then headed towards the curb to hail another cab.

“Hello.” A voice came from behind her. She could smell the alcohol on his breath before she had even turned around.

“No.” April said, grimacing as she turned around and saw a man with black eye, his lip still bleeding for a recent fight. A cab pulled up as she stepped away, for which she was immeasurably grateful. In his state of insobriety she wasn’t entirely sure what he would do, and she wasn’t in the mood to knock someone out.

The ride back home was silent, the driver seemingly disliked the radio, so she was left with the sounds of the engine, the traffic around her, his heavy breathing and the occasional ticking of the indicator before he turned. She spent the time replaying her date in her mind. She loved everything that took place, it was perfect, everything that she had worried about, didn’t happen. The lulls in conversation that she imagined, the uncomfortable topics and the overwhelming awkwardness when they didn’t seem to click weren’t a problem. It was the best date she had had in years. Granted it was the only date, but that didn’t mean it wasn’t anything short of wonderful.

Paying the taxi driver, she walked down the driveway, checking the house for lights. It didn’t look like anyone was home, and if they were they probably weren’t awake. Locking the door behind her, she crept up the staircase towards her bedroom careful not to make a sound. Grabbing a change of clothes from her room, she headed to the bathroom, locked the door behind her and took a long lengthy shower. Washing off her makeup, washing her hair and then letting the water run down her body, as she stood deep in thought, about everything, not focussing on Alex, but not dismissing him either.

After drying her hair with the help of the hair dryer, she hung her up towels, and headed back to her room, wearing her winter pyjamas, that were warm and soft against her skin. Shutting her door behind her, she collapsed onto the bed, staring up at the ceiling as she lay on her back, a smile spread over her face. Her phone vibrated in her handbag, bringing her out of her thoughts. Sitting up she fished it out of her bag that lay on the floor and flipped it open. She had two unread messages, both from Cristina.

_“How did it go call me.”_

_“Unless you’re getting lucky, in which case call me later.”_

April grinned down at her phone. Cristina and her weren’t what you would call close, they were friends, well as much of a friend you could be with Cristina if you weren’t Mere, or even Alex who she had a pretty close friendship with. But Cristina loved knowing about the two of them, usually she wouldn’t give a crap, but April assumed that she cared because it was Alex and she cared about Alex. It was surprising that Cristina helped them as much as she did, sure when she started she wasn’t working and needed a distraction, but now she was almost back to normal, at least she was working at the hospital again.

That was the funny thing about Cristina, everyone assumed she was a robot, but she wasn’t. She cared, when it mattered most, but most of the time she just seemed disinterested in other people’s problems. Because most of the time she didn’t care, but honestly most people didn’t, they just weren’t so blunt about it.

Dialling her number, April crawled underneath her covers and lay down, with her head against the pillow and flicked her lamp out, covering her room in darkness. The only light came through a break through the curtains in which the streetlight was shining through.

“Hey.” Cristina answered, sounding tired but like her usual self.

“Hey.” April said, closing her eyes as she spoke, she needed to crash she was exhausted.

“I just saw Alex, what happened?” Cristina asked, sounded interested, which was not something she could easily fake so she obviously cared, on some level.

“He got paged.”

“I know that! I meant on your date.” Cristina chimed, sounding a touch irritated.

“It went well, no, amazingly.” April breathed, smiling as she thought about it. “You didn’t tell me you instructed Alex about the date as well!” April added.

“I should get a Nobel Peace Prize for my works, it was exhausting. You have no idea how it was to preen him to be presentable in a date situation.” Cristina moaned, yelling muffled part of her speaking, she was most likely in the ER, but judging by the reduced noise level by the time she finished she had moved into the corridor.

“Preen, really?” April sighed.

“Yup. Are you ready to tell everyone about your hunky new boyfriend?” Cristina quipped, sounding more like her normal self, than she did when she was moaning but helpful.

“Not yet!” April exclaimed, surprised at how quickly that came out of her mouth.

“So I can’t accidentally let it slip yet then. Shame, the hospital could use with some new gossip.” Cristina chuckled to herself as she spoke, part of her loved being the only one who knew about them, but it meant that that April would no doubt ooze her feelings all over her as their relationship progressed, which she was not looking forward to that in the slightest.

“No.” April said firmly.

“Ok but if, shit, bye.” Cristina started smugly before a yell crackled down the line and her voice turned frantic, but excited as she said goodbye and hung up, leaving April in silence.

Placing her phone on her bedside table, she rolled onto her side and stared out the window for a few minutes, thinking about Alex, their date and all that was left to come. Her eyes fluttered, and as she was no longer able to keep the open any longer, she closed them and promptly fell asleep.

 

Her alarm went off shattering her dreams, and dazed like state. Keeping her eyes shut, she hit her alarm to shut it up, took a deep breath, then opened them. _What? 10 o’clock! No._ April frantically looked at the alarm, how was it 10, she set her alarm for 7? Picking up her watch off her bedside table, she confirmed that it was 10am. Sitting up hastily, she yanked the covers off her and swung her legs onto the floor. April grabbed her alarm clock and pulled it towards her, to reset the alarm, when she noticed a post it note underneath it.

_I took the liberty of changing your alarm. You don’t start until 1, sleep a little. God knows you could use the beauty sleep ;)  
                                    Cristina_

Of course it was Cristina. April fixed her alarm, grabbed her clothes and a towel and headed to the bathroom. Alex’s door was still open when she walked by, he wasn’t home yet, must have slept at the hospital. The house was silent, everyone was at work, it was her late start today, which usually meant she had the morning to herself, but thanks to Cristina she slept through a large chunk of that time.

 

After pulling her wet hair into a ponytail she cracked open the bathroom window, and headed downstairs for some breakfast, when her pager went off on her bedside table. Running into her room she grabbed it, 911, she had to go. Grabbing her handbag off the floor, she stuffed everything she needed inside and ran down the stairs. She would have to pick up some coffee and a bagel on the way, she was starving, and she needed her morning coffee, no matter what time it was.

 

“Didn’t I tell you’d look better after a sleep in?” Cristina said as she walked into the lounge and spotted April in the corner pulling on her scrub top.

“Thanks for that, I had to eat breakfast on the way in!” April sniped, sculling the last half of her coffee, before chucking the empty cup into the bin.

“But are you tired?” Cristina asked, grabbing a muesli bar from Mere’s locker, unwrapping it and then chewing on it as she smiled at April.

“Well, no.” April said, following Cristina through the door and headed towards the ER.

“You’re welcome.” Cristina said, as they stepped into the lift. The lift was full of nurses, doctors and patients, who all stood in silence as the lift descended. The smell of chemicals filling their noses, and April saw a cleaner out of the corner of her eye. The lift doors opened, onto a loud bustling corridor as Cristina and April stepped out.

“Hey, how was your night?” Mere asked as they stepped into the ER and grabbed trauma gowns off the wall.

“’Twas ok, didn’t really get up to much, read a book, ordered takeout.” April replied not looking at her, she could never tell a decent lie.

“Oh what book?” Mere asked as the screaming issued from the trauma room beside them.

“We got an incoming trauma. Three car pileup on Broad street, let’s go people, ETA one minute.” Alex yelled to the ER, handed the phone back to the nurse and saw April in the crowd.

“Grey!” Callie yelled through an opened trauma room door, Mere smiled at April and Cristina before hastily shutting the door behind her as she entered the room.

“Hey.” Alex said as he approached them, a small smile forming on his face. He walked behind April and tied up the back of her trauma gown, his fingers lingering for only a moment.

“Oi, you could do mine up as well.” Cristina muttered, as Alex withdrew his hands quickly, hoping that nobody took notice of his hesitation. Tying Cristina’s up quickly, he stepped away from them, smiled at April then headed over to the doors to greet the ambulance.

“Does he know we’re not telling?” Cristina whispered to April, raising her eyebrow slightly as April’s eyes followed Alex as he left the ER and disappeared from sight, a small smile lingering on her lips.

“Uhm.. I don’t know.” April said her eyes still unfocussed.

“Never thought this day would come.” Cristina said, smiling.

“What day?” April turned to her quickly, as someone pushed past her and she looked at Cristina in confusion.

“When Virgin Mary fell for evil spawn.” Cristina said as she started to walk towards the oncoming traumas, this was the highlight of her day, hopefully it would be something good.

“And on that note I’m going to leave.” April backed away from Cristina and turned to focus on a patient lying in a bed, who looked as though she needed attention.

Pushing all thought of Alex out of her head, she smiled at the young woman lying still, her hands clutching her stomach, and her face white as the sheet on which she was lying. For the next few hours, Alex was off limit, Dr Karev was fine, but Alex, and last night, and all those feelings, had to be ignored. She was no longer April, she was Dr Kepner and she had to focus.

**XX**


	6. Should Not

**XX**

After an 8 hour surgery which would have been longer if the patient hadn’t arrested on the table and consequently died, and a surgery that took just under 13 hours to complete, which luckily the patient survived April just wanted to sit down. Optimally she would have loved to lie down and sleep but she still had charts to complete and things to sign, and her shift wasn’t over yet. With a half-drunk coffee in one hand and a pen in the other, she stared down at the folder in front of her and found herself reading the first line of the third paragraph for the fifth or sixth time. Her brain was tired and her eyes were beginning to glaze over.

She had successfully been able to keep Alex out her head for the last 20 or so hours. It helped that she was in surgery, with only a few minutes to scrub in and out, in which she was chatting so her brain didn’t have time to wander. Also she hadn’t seen him since she left the ER less than hour since she had first arrived, with a middle aged guy coughing up blood, taking him straight to the OR, sadly he didn’t make it there but she was paged to another patients room only seconds after she had declared him dead.

With her mind wandering for the task at hand all she could think about was Alex. Thinking about how much she wanted to kiss him, how much her will to stay a virgin was wavering and how he had looked at her this morning, which made her want to do things she had only read about. She was still partly regretting what had happened in the on call room, she wished that Alex hadn’t stopped her but then again that could have ended badly and she was ultimately glad that it had ended the way it did.

“…you haven’t heard a word I’ve said have you.” Cristina finished, as she smiled over at April from where she sat, slumped in her chair with a stack a folders by her feet, a stack of folders on the desk in front of her and an almost finished folder on her lap that she was scribbling in as she talked.

“What? Sorry, I was zoned out.” April replied looking up from where her eyes were glued to her folder and smiling over at Cristina. Taking a sip of her coffee, she downed the rest of it, she needed as much coffee as possible right now. While she wondered about whether or not she could get another one, Cristina started talking again. This time noticing that she was zoning her out, April pushed all thoughts of coffee out her mind and focussed.

“…I think we should.” Cristina finished, her eyes on her folder as she flipped the page and smiled before slamming the folder shut and dropping it on the pile by her feet. She didn’t seem to notice that April had only caught a fragment of what she was saying and was already opening the folder that was previously at the top of the stack on her desk while April managed to piece together what she sort of heard when Cristina was talking before.

“After our shifts? At Joes? Will you be serving?” April asked, not able to hide the smile on her face. She hadn’t actually seen Cristina’s night of bartending but what she had heard was something that she was sad that she missed. It was a difficult time for Cristina, but her considerable lack of bartending skills and the drunken dancing was something that April would have liked to have witnessed for herself.

“No, but I was fabulous at it.” Cristina answered, smirking at April before she looked back down at her folder and began to scribble again. Cristina seemed to be in a good mood, maybe it was been back, maybe it was because she had been working almost endlessly since she came back, getting good surgery after good surgery, making up for lost time it seemed.

“Hmm… so I heard.” April replied as she flipped the page. She was finally almost finished with this folder, and she had managed to read her way to the end of the paragraph that she was stuck on. But her mind was still fixed on Alex, wondering if he would be at Joe’s . Part of her hoping that he wouldn’t be and part of her hoping that he would be.

Falling back into silence the only sound that came from the room was the sound of pen on paper, the flipping of pages and the shutting and opening of folders. Glad for the company April tried pushing Alex out of her mind as she filled out folder after folder, wishing that her interns didn’t have such terrible writing, and wishing that they could learn to fill out their folders properly for themselves.

She liked Alex, she knew she did but that was pretty much all she knew. She knew what he was like, but she also knew there was a lot to learn about him. Sure he could be an ass, but he was also sweet, and loyal and protective and kind. The main thing that worried her was the fact that she wanted to wait until marriage, he definitely wasn’t that sort of a guy, and obviously he wasn’t going to pressure her. But she knew that if they did continue to date, that would weaken her resolve simply by wanting to do more with him.

“Thanks.” Cristina said, in the background. To April it sounded as if Cristina was whispering, her voice somewhat distorted but still clear. Closing her eyes for a second, April opened them again, wider this time and separated herself from her thoughts as she looked over at Cristina who was holding a fresh cup of coffee and Jackson who had his hand extended out towards April, waiting for her to take the coffee he held in it.

“Oh thanks.” April said, wrapping her fingers around the handle as she smiled at Jackson. Leaning back in her chair she shut the folder she was on, having finished it minutes earlier, just before she was submerged in her own thoughts.

Jackson dropped into the chair beside Cristina as April opened another folder and Cristina took a sip of her drink. Sensing that they were both tired, Jackson sat in silence as he read through his emails that were clogging up his inbox. Every few minutes April looked up at them both as she took a sip of her coffee, and on the fourth time she noticed that Jackson was no longer looking at his phone, his attention was now solely focussed on Cristina.

She hadn’t been back for long so it was understandable that he was worried about her, but it seemed like something more. Shaking her head, April looked back down at her folder and flipped the page, Jackson used to have feelings for Cristina but now he liked Lexie, it must have just been concern. They were all friends, but Cristina and Jackson were closer than Cristina was with April. Also Jackson and Cristina experienced a lot of the shooting together. While April and Mere were sitting on the floor of the scrub room, Cristina and Jackson were operating, and that sort of thing changes people. It sure had changed her. It was normal that they were closer after it, he sure spent most of his time off with Cristina after she had quit. He only came home to sleep, which was a lot less than usual and when he did he managed to wake everyone up by yelling in his sleep.

“..you should come too.” Cristina finished. She didn’t look up at Jackson while she spoke but was still frantically scribbling in her folder, she had checked her watch only seconds before and she knew she had to get a move on, she had to scrub in in less than 10 minutes, and she didn’t want have to do this afterwards. She only had one more folder to go and then she was done, for now anyway.

“When?” Jackson asked as he took a sip Cristina’s coffee, she looked up and opened her mouth to say something but he grinned at her and she couldn’t help but smile back.

“Straight after our shifts.” Cristina replied as she slammed the folder shut and dropped it on top her pile and picked up the last folder on the desk, she scanned the first page and then grinned. It was already finished. Her pager beeped and her smile widened, “See you later.” She said as she stood up and ran out of the room, pulling her hair into a bun as the door shut behind her.

“And I’m off too.” Jackson said as he paged beeped and he grinned down at it, he had been trying to get onto a case for the last half an hour, and he finally had.

“See you later.” April replied, smiling at Jackson as he stood up. Being alone would mean that she might be able to finish off her folders, but it also meant that her mind wandered back to Alex. Back to how much she wanted to kiss him. Staring down at the page in front of her she focussed, skimming over it and filling in what she needed to, she pushed Alex out of her mind.

Three folders later April heard the door swing open and looked up to see who it was, a smile lit up her face when she saw who was now standing in front of the shut door.

“Hey.” Alex said as he smiled shyly down at April. He wasn’t sure what to say or what to do. He wanted to kiss her but he didn’t know if that was what she wanted. In reply of his unanswered question April dropped her folder on the desk, stood up, wrapped her arms around his neck and smiled up at him. His arms moved before he thought about it, he placed his hands on her hips and pulled her towards him.

“I want to kiss you.” April whispered as she moved a step closer to him. Bringing herself up onto the balls of her feet, she touched her lips to his and then kissed him. Having only kissed him a few times now it was surprising at how natural it felt, it only took a few seconds before he slipped his tongue between her lips, and she felt her body melt into his. Her resolve was fading. At least they weren’t in a locked on call room otherwise she wouldn’t have been able to stop herself, she was sure of that.

As their kiss deepened April couldn’t help but run her fingers through his hair, it was shorter than her fingers would have liked, and she fought to keep her fingers were they were, almost every cell in her body wanted them to be lowering, and removing first his scrub top and then his pants. Without even noticing it she had already kicked off her shoes and was pushing him into the chair that she had stood up out of as he had entered the room, she pushed him using the palm of her hand, and he was not resisting. For which she was thankful.

Only minutes ago she had been thinking about how she would not have sex with him, not yet anyway and here she was, ready to peel the clothes from his skin. April wanted not a layer between them as she straddled him in the chair, her hands resting on top of his and his hands gripped onto her thighs, their lips not leaving each others. As their kiss deepened Alex’s hands moved from her thighs and were pushing the bottom of April’s scrub top up as his hands rested on her hips. April wanted to touch more of him, they weren’t moving anywhere as fast as she wanted them to be, but at the back of her mind a part of her still remembered that she was a virgin, and wished to remain that way until marriage.

With tension building up in side of her, April moved her body against Alex’s to relieve some of her tension but when he tightened her grip and responded she couldn’t help but moan against his lips, her tension increasing not decreasing. Moving her hands down from his head, where she had gone back to running her fingers through his hair, she gripped onto his shoulders, in an effort to stop herself tearing off his clothes.

Alex pulled his lips away from April’s for just a second, and opened his mouth to say something but before he could, April had placed her hands on either side of his face and pressed her lips and body against him. She was desperate for more and so was he. Moving her hand down, she was heading towards the top of his scrub pants and for the life of her she couldn’t find a single reason why she shouldn’t.

“We should stop.” Alex muttered against her lips as he felt her hands moving down his body. He was tempted to pull her scrub top over her head in one smooth motion but he knew he shouldn’t but he couldn’t remember why.

“Yes you should.” A voice came from behind them. Cristina’s tone worked like ice, the lust between them disappeared instantly, April jumped up off the chair and slipped on her shoes as she pulled her scrub top down and adjusted her bra strap that had slid off her shoulder in the process.  Alex couldn’t help but stand up quickly, push the chair under the table and look guilty.

Alex opened his mouth to speak but quickly thought better of it as Cristina’s scowl deepened, he felt as though he had been caught by Bailey, Cristina didn’t seem impressed at all, and he knew why. This was April. That was why he knew he shouldn’t remove her scrub top, because it was April. April opened her mouth to say something but one look into Cristina’s eyes she decided against it.

“Don’t you have a surgery to get to.” Cristina said to April. It wasn’t a question, it was a demand. April nodded picked up her coat and her coffee and her pager and left the room. She wasn’t good at confrontations and she had learnt not to confront Cristina, especially when she looked like that. She had barely cleared the door when it slammed shut behind her. She stopped for a moment, trying to decipher the muffled shouts coming from Cristina’s mouth but the door was blocking too much. Sighing she hurried down the hall, wishing that Cristina hadn’t come back and wondering why she did.

**XX**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is now caught up with this story of fanfiction.net, the next chapter may be out soon, if I get some inspiration to write it :)


	7. Joe's

What was he thinking? On what level was any of this a good idea, he knew it wasn’t going to work out and yet, for some reason he thought that it still could. Maybe Cristina interrupting them was for the best, maybe that needed to happen, he had forgotten that that was April, April the virgin, the one with the red notebook, the anal one, that he used to tease and dislike, and now, now well, he wasn’t really sure what she was now.

“Hurry up.” Alex moaned, he had said that he would wait for Jackson, part of him wanted to put off going to Joe’s for a few minutes, he just wanted a little more time to think. April definitely wasn’t like any of the girls he had ever dated, but then none of them had ended up well, so what did that matter. Izzie was completely different and she upped and left, maybe he needed someone more like April, or maybe this whole thing was going to explode in his face, and he was going to get punched. It was hard to say what would really happen, but he had low expectations, he couldn’t really see any scenario where this would end well. April wasn’t a sex before marriage type of girl and he wasn’t anywhere near ready to get married, so that wasn’t going to work, but maybe it wouldn’t be a problem. _Who am I kidding?_ He thought to himself, this was going to be an issue, maybe not now, but it soon would be.

“I’m done.” Jackson said as he walked out of the bathroom and shrugged on his coat, giving Alex a small smile. Alex sighed in response and cracked his neck before checking his phone, hoping for a reason to delay further.

“What’s with you?” Jackson asked as he stuffed his phone and his pager into his pockets. Alex looked well, not like Alex. For one thing it wasn’t normal of him to wait for him for one thing and another he looked agitated and nervous at the same time, the same way he looked when something to do with Izzie popped up, but at that time he didn’t know him well enough, or even at all really.

“Nothing.” Alex replied defensively before scanning Jackson. “What’s with you?” Alex asked, something about Jackson was obviously different, or maybe his brain was just giving him false information, since he wanted to postpone his trip a little bit longer, and getting into Jackson’s problems, however much he didn’t want to hear them could do the trick.

“Nothing.” Jackson answered, not meeting Alex’s gaze as he turned away from him, scanned his cubby hole before looking back at Alex. “You ready?”

“I’ve been waiting for you for the past ten minutes.” Alex snapped back, as he grabbed his bag and took a step away for Jackson, who was on the verge of saying something, a despite his wish to delay his departure he wasn’t sure he wanted to hear it.

“Alex..” Jackson started, his face blank as his feet remained stuck to the floor, his eyes resting on Alex, wondering how he was going to phrase this.

“Let’s just go.” Alex interrupted. He didn’t want to hear it after all. Turning around, he headed towards the door, pushing it open with his palm and striding down the corridor to the lift. Jackson didn’t attempt to say anything, so he assumed that he was still standing in the residents lounge, thinking over whatever he was going to say. Alex still hated the lift and as he stepped into it, he took a deep breath.

“We’re a dying race here.” Jackson muttered as he leant against the side of the lift. They were the only two people occupying the lift, and Alex wished to god there was a patient or a family member, anything to halt this conversation, he was growing tiresome of Jackson’s desire to talk about whatever it was, although he admitted, he had asked Jackson.

“What?” Alex turned to face Jackson, not at all understanding.

“George died, Charles died.” Jackson said in a low voice.

Alex sighed, maybe it wasn’t such a good idea to invite him after all, he would probably become far more sombre after a few drinks, and Alex wasn’t sure he would be able to put up with it. They had all been through a lot, Alex knew that people coped in different ways but that was a little awhile ago now, and they were starting to sort themselves out, why did Jackson need to bring this up now? Alex’s head was already busy with everything else, he didn’t need the reminder of Bambi and Nose-Dive.

“We lost Izzie too, and Addie left and..” Alex started, as the two of them stepped out of the lift and made their way towards the exit.

“But they’re still alive. I mea...” Jackson interceded, the frown on his face growing as he thought back, he hated where his mind took him at night and now he was dwelling on it during the day too, but Alex bled out in an elevator, he would understand, wouldn’t he?

“I’m dating April.” Alex blurted out. He wasn’t really the sort to blurt anything out, and he wasn’t really sure why he told him, but he wanted to shut him up and a quick glance at his face, he could see it had a worked a trick, Jackson was staring at him in disbelief, attempting to contemplate how this happened, how on earth it happened.

“Well not really, but sorta. We went on a date and tha..” Alex continued. Beside him Jackson was still walking, but his pace had slowed as he tried to process it, Alex and April, his best friend and Alex, the Virgin Mary and..

“You slept with her?” Jackson demanded, his face darkening.

“No.” Alex answered hurriedly, causing Jackson’s expression to relax momentarily.

“She do..”  Jackson begun. He couldn’t see how the two of them got together but that was inconsequential, what he couldn’t work out was how the two of them were supposed to be a couple, long or short term. They were surgeons who worked at the same hospital, that was where the similarities ended, they couldn’t have thought any of this through, even Jackson could see it wouldn’t work, how could they not have managed to see the obvious yet.

“I know, celibate till marriage. I don’t...” Alex said as they paused in front of Joe’s Bar, the two of them lingering at the top of the steps, looking everywhere but at each other, hoping not to be overheard by anyone from the hospital, or even worse, by April.

“You do anything to..” Jackson threatened, his eyes finding Alex’s and his expression hardened once again.

“Now boys, is this really the way to speak to one another.” Cristina grinned as she placed one hand on each of their shoulders and looked from one face to the other. Both sets of eyes on her, she smiled before removing her hands and pulling Alex into a hug.

“What was that for?” Alex muttered, as Cristina took a step away from the pair of them, leaving him shocked, she was as much of a hugger as he was, which wasn’t at all really. But then again, she did quit not that long ago, grief does odd things to people, Alex thought for a moment before Cristina turned back to him, her brown eyes twinkling.

“You’re buying the first round.” Cristina smirked as she flashed Alex the cash she had just swiped from his pocket before she turned and ran down the stairs, her raven curls billowing behind her. Alex sighed and turned back to Jackson who was trying not to laugh, his eyes still lingering on the door that Cristina disappeared through.

“So if I do anything you’ll punch me? Maybe get a few drinks in you before you start threatening me.” Alex said to Jackson, picking up their conversation from where Cristina had interrupted them.

“She’s one of my best friends.” Jackson said in a quieter more relaxed tone. He didn’t want to see April get hurt, and he didn’t think that she could handle a relationship, or whatever this was with Alex, she would end up being hurt, that was the only outcome he saw. Alex nodded in reply. Turning from Alex, Jackson headed down the steps, down towards the bar, his hands deep in his coat pockets as he shivered.

“Does she know?” Alex’s voice came from the top of the staircase as Jackson’s hand hovered in front of the door, about to push it open.

“Know what?” Jackson turned back to face Alex, looking at him blankly.

“What you’re not telling me.” Alex said, his voice clear and his face expressionless as he stared down at Jackson. Looking up at him for a few seconds, Jackson pushed the door open and with his eyes still on Alex took a step inside, letting the door fall shut behind him, leaving Alex alone at the top of the staircase as the rain started to fall. His question unanswered, Alex looked up at the sky, letting the rain droplets cover his face and wet his hair as he shut his eyes and took a deep breath in.

**...**

Not wanting to ask, not wanting to have her eyes fixed on the doors, not wanting to look desperate, not wanting to appear weak or whatever it was that they would think of her, April sat with her back to the door, a beer in her hand and her eyes fixed firmly on Cristina, whose lips curled into a smile as she argued with Jackson, the two of their voices amused and merry, not at all fighting, and beside them April couldn’t help but feel relaxed as she tuned their conversation out and sunk into her thoughts, wondering and analysing. The two of them had been here when she arrived, and there was no sign of Alex then, nor had he been at the bar already as Jackson told her when she sat down. As far as she could tell was that Cristina and him had already been here for about forty minutes before she arrived, and she couldn’t help but wonder why Alex hadn’t come with the two of them, or at least with one of them.

“Earth to April...” Jackson continued, a faint smile on his lips as he sat alone in front of her. Glancing at her watch, she noticed that over thirty minutes had flown by since she zoned out and now Cristina was nowhere to be seen. Jackson had spent the last minute talking to April, only just realising that she hadn’t heard a single word that he had said.

“Do you wanna play darts with us?” Jackson repeated, for what felt like the tenth time.

“I’ll leave you two to it.” April replied. Wrapping her fingers around her beer bottle she raised it to her lips as Jackson looked at her in confusion and took a long swig. She didn’t have work for another 12 hours, she was going to get a little drunk tonight, more so than she usually got at least.

“Two? Cristina’s playing as well.” Jackson answered as April downed the rest of her bottle.

“As well as?” April cocked her head to the right as she looked at Jackson in confusion. Absentmindedly picking up the almost finished glass of rum off the table beside her, she drunk that too.

“Alex.” Jackson answered, a strange look on his face as he looked at her, as he wondered if she had managed to ignore everything he had said to her in the last two minutes, and wondering when  she started drinking like that, trying his best not to blame Alex, he pushed that thought to the side.

“Oh. Darts? Sure.” April smiled. Jackson sighed in reply, rising from his seat he walked over to Alex and Cristina who were laughing and doing a round of tequila shots, this time Cristina’s shout.

“Hey.” April said quietly, a small smile on her face as Alex threw his final dart, narrowly hitting two, causing Cristina to erupt into laughter behind him, she was kicking his ass. Turning to face April, Alex placed his beer on the corner of the bar and pushed a strand of hair behind April’s hair before leaning his face towards hers.

“Hey.” Alex breathed, as his lips hovered over April’s. April let out an involuntarily shuddering breath as he placed his spare hand on her hip and she drew his body towards his, before pushing her lips against his.

“Maybe we should leave them to it.” Cristina muttered, grabbing Jackson by the hand as she pulled him back to the table, ordering another round of tequila shots with a silent look to Joe on her way.

“I thought you weren’t going to come.” April said quietly as she pulled her lips from Alex’s and sat down on a stool, her arm resting on the bar as she looked at Alex. Alex looked at her questioningly, and went to open his mouth when April added, “Anyway, how was your day?” trying to shut down that topic of conversation.

“Hey Alex.” A dark haired woman smiled flirtatiously, her eyes only for Alex as she stood less than half a step in front of him, oblivious to the reddening woman sitting beside him.

“Angela.” Alex replied, a small smile on his lips as Angela dragged her fingertips over his thigh before heading towards the exit, her eyes still on him and a smile on her lips.  His eyes followed her for a few seconds before he cleared his throat and turned to April who was staring at him, with wide eyes and a gaping mouth. “What?”

“How many women in this bar have you slept with?” April sniped, her voice doing that high pitched tone that Alex hated, that she did when she was stressed, or trying to take command.

“What the fuck April.” Alex answered. Without thinking, he moved his body away from April, preparing for an assault of some form, no doubt verbal. Part him wanted to laugh at the ridiculousness of this situation but another part of him was getting defensive and pissed.

“In this bar, right now. What a couple? A handful?  Half a dozen? A dozen? What about two dozen?” April said, her voice no longer high pitched, it didn’t sound like her voice and the look on her face was one that Alex didn’t recognise.

“What?” Alex demanded, wondering why she was asking him this. Then it suddenly occurred to him, after he left April, the last time he had saw her, she was getting yelled at. “Oh of course, what did Cristina say to you?” Alex asked as his expression darkened.

“It doesn’t matter.” April muttered. The truth of the matter was that Cristina hadn’t said anything about Alex, it was all about April, but the thoughts flooding April’s brain prevented her from taking the blame from Cristina, from shifting the focus to not who said what but what was said, and why her doubts were more than doubts.

“April? What did she say?” Alex’s beer was forgotten beside him as his eyes narrowed, staring straight at April, he was pissed now.

“It doesn’t matter what she said!” April half-yelled, she was fuming now, she didn’t even care that a few people were looking at the two of them, she no longer cared about anything, except saying what she had to. “She didn’t even have to say it, I knew it without asking, without confirmation, and I guess I just had the confirmation that no one else could give me.” April paused to take small breath before adding in a hard voice, “We won’t work.”  Alex’s expression was unreadable. “There is no point pretending. It’s simple really, you’re a whore and I’m a virgin.” April continued, spitting out the words whore and virgin in disgust before she grabbed her coat off the bar and stood up, turning on the heel of her boot and taking a step forward.

“So I can’t judge you about not having sex, but you can judge me about the sex I’ve had? Bloody hell April, why did you come here and kiss me? Why did..” Alex demanded.

“I don’t know why! But that woman..” April half-screamed, she couldn’t help it, tears were coursing down her cheeks now, and half the bar was looking at the two of them, as April threw her hands up hopelessly.

“Angela.” Alex muttered, before biting down on his tongue, realising at once that he had said the wrong thing, as April’s eyes narrowed. Giving Alex one final glare, April turned from him and strode through the crowd, she caught a few peoples eyes as she scanned the crowd from Jackson and glared at them before they had the decency to look away. Holding firmly onto her handbag she scanned the faces, and averted gazes, looking for Jackson.

“Jackson?” April asked Lexie and one of her intern friends in a low voice.

“I think he’s in the bathroom.” Lexie’s friend replied, as Lexie’s hand moved to rest on April’s shoulder trying to give her comfort, which April shrugged off as she made a beeline for the bathroom, her coat and handbag in hand, she just wanted to go home, and she needed her best friend right now.

Pushing the bathroom open to the mens room she scanned the bathroom, not finding anyone in there she sighed in frustration before she heard something in the second stall, and without a second thought she marched towards it before pushing it open.

“Jacks-so- holy shit.” April’s lips separated in a gasp as Jackson turned to face April, red lipstick trailing down his neck and smudged against his mouth. Underneath him, a smile on her face, that was now directed at April (who was growing redder by the second), was Cristina, a few buttons undone, one hand still tightly gripping onto Jackson’s shoulder, the other hand out of sight.

“April.” Cristina grinned, as April’s eyes scanned the two of them trying to process what she saw in front of her, her eyes lingering on Jackson’s hands, one slipped underneath Cristina’s blouse the other on her hip,  dragging her body towards his, as April’s mind tried to think of the placement of Cristina’s out of sight fingers.

“I’m so so-rr- I’ll just go.” April stammered, as she took an unsteady step backwards, half ran out of the bathroom before shutting the bathroom door behind of her before collapsing against the back of the door and taking a deep breath in, trying to both process what was happening in that bathroom and also to forget she ever saw that. Wiping the tears of her cheeks from her fight from Alex, which went unnoticed by the two people who were now moaning in the bathroom behind her, for a fleeting second, April couldn’t make sense of it, she could have sworn he liked Lexie, he hadn’t mentioned anything about Cristina, but then again the two of them were pretty drunk.

Ignoring the two of them, April shook her head and headed back into the bar, her eyes scanning for Alex, trying to find him before he hooked up with someone, or started to hate her, at least moreso than he did already. Heading through the people, pushing her way past occupied and empty tables, a flash by the door caught her eye, smiling, she saw Alex for a split second before the door shut behind him.

She didn’t want to lose him, she was running now, running towards the door, running up the steps, running down the pavement, her eyes searching.  Spotting Alex, April’s heart quickened as she slowed her pace and walked quickly towards him. As his hand went to open the taxi door, she was a few steps behind him, unsure whether to call out his name or to remain silent, and let him drive away leaving her unnoticed. Standing still on the pavement, her grip tightening on her handbag strap she made her decision, she let Alex climb in and pull the door shut.

But before the door fell shut, her hand was on the handle, and she was pulling it open, just wide enough for her to enter before pulling it shut behind her, Alex’s eyes on the taxi driver, oblivious to April whose grip loosened on her handbag, letting it fall to floor.

“Shit.” Alex exclaimed.  “April what the hell?” Alex turned to face April, his shock apparent on his face, as he watched her startled, as to why she was in his taxi and to how the hell she got in without him noticing her.

The only answer she gave was a small smile before she pushed herself forward, her body pushing Alex’s towards the seat as her lips found his. For a moment she almost pulled back, feeling her cheeks redden, but before she could Alex reciprocated, and she felt the anxiety leaving her body as Alex’s cold finger’s foraged under her layers of clothing and found her skin. Shivering with both cold and excitement April ignored the sigh of the taxi driver as he started his engine and headed to Mere’s house.

 _Maybe celibacy wasn’t the most realistic of all thoughts,_ April thought to herself as her body melted against Alex, _it was good in theory, but physically,_ she moaned against Alex’s lips, _physically sex was much better._

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Will April follow through? Will she sleep with Alex? Will there be any regrets?
> 
> Also what is happening with Cristina and Jackson?


End file.
